Moriarty Spies On EAGLE EYE In IMAX!

Hey, everyone. “Moriarty” here.
Okay, it’s been out for a few days now, so I feel comfortable writing an EAGLE EYE review that contains a few spoilers. If you still haven’t seen the film, just skip this review altogether, and just know that I thought it was passable entertainment that doesn’t quite hold together as a movie, and that some of the more overt sci-fi elements are a little too silly for me to give this a wholehearted recommendation.
But I think it’s almost impossible to discuss the film without detailing the plot elements that do or don’t work, and Paramount was verrrrrrrrry nervous about any spoilers appearing in any pre-release reviews, so I felt like the only way to write this piece was to wait until the film was out. That way, nobody gets uptight, and I’m able to fully articulate my reaction to the movie.
I was a little taken aback when I was talking with someone this weekend and they referred to DJ Caruso as “a big fat hackity hack.” Is that really what we’ve come to? You’re either an auteur or a hack? There’s no middle ground where professional, slick directors for hire can exist? I don’t think Caruso’s had a particularly personal filmography thus far, but I think his films are generally well-made, and there’s a subtle sense of style to the best of them. I quite liked THE SALTON SEA, and even hosted a screening of it at the American Cinematheque before it was released. TAKING LIVES and TWO FOR THE MONEY are best forgotten, but I don’t think it’s the directing that is the issue with either one of them. DISTURBIA is indeed a shameless rip from REAR WINDOW, but it’s done well, and the film entertains on its own merits. Now, with EAGLE EYE, Caruso’s taken a step into the territory normally reserved for guys like Michael Bay or Tony Scott, big hyperslick action movies with a heavy military bent, and I think he proves with his work here that he’s more than capable of handling this scale of filmmaking. Maybe if EAGLE EYE is a hit, we’ll start to see a more personal side of Caruso in his work, and maybe then it’ll be fair to judge him overall. Right now, I still think what we’re seeing is professionalism and style without much personality, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
The film’s tortured plotting is the real problem here. The press notes describe the film as a “race against time thriller,” and that’s certainly true. The trouble is that the nature of the film’s villain is so powerful and omniscient that it makes the stakes impossible. It paints the characters into a corner that only convenience can rescue them from. Both Jerry Shaw (Shia LaBeouf) and Rachel Holloman (Michelle Monaghan) are completely average people at the start of the film, drawn into these extraordinary circumstances for reasons that remain mysterious until late in the game. As a result, it’s hard to believe that they’d be able to muster the skill sets to survive the ordeal that they’re plunged into, especially since the film refuses to play fair. When you create a villain that can do anything, anytime, anywhere, without restriction, you rob your film of any real tension. It can’t just work one way. Yes, you have two very human, very fallible people as your heroes, but unless there’s a way for them to reverse the situation or turn the tables, it doesn’t work.
And now here’s where the spoilers come in. In the press notes, producer/rewriter Alex Kurtzman says, “Steven [Spielberg] always wanted people to walk out of the theaters and turn off their cell phones and BlackBerrys, because they were so scared.” Fat chance. They also make a comparison to JAWS, talking about the impact that film had on beachgoers. The reason that worked is because sharks are real, and there’s a primal fear hardwired into our nervous systems of being eaten by something larger than us. And while computers may be integral to our lives these days, they’re not inherently terrifying. And despite the insistence by the filmmakers that they’re telling a story grounded in reality, this film has as much to do with the realities of technology right now as LOGAN’S RUN does. More importantly, maybe it’s my own belief that human are smarter as a species than most people give them credit for, but I have a hard time believing we’re ever going to reach the tipping point that this film suggests. We’d have to be even stupider and more self-destructive than I think we are to hand over the kind of power to a computer that they show in this movie. I think that no matter how powerful our supercomputers get, it’s never going to reach a point where we remove the human factor completely from the equation, and for good reason. Kubrick warned us of this over thirty years ago, and even then, I’m not sure I bought it completely.
As an action film, this is firmly in the Michael Bay school of mayhem, but Caruso’s got an innate sense of geography that serves him well overall. He has to stage some huge sequences in the film, and he does a good job of keeping the audience oriented no matter how chaotic things get. The set pieces in the first half of the film remind me of that great footchase in MINORITY REPORT where Tom Cruise was on the run with the precog, and she kept telling what to do a few seconds before something happened. In that film, psychic powers were the leap you had to make to buy into the sequence, and it worked. Here, like I said, there are some huge leaps of faith that you’re asked to make, and I just don’t believe that any technology, no matter what, could account for all the impossible beats that occur. We are photographed hundreds of times a day when we’re in public, and there are certainly all sorts of datastreams being monitored by both our government and private concerns at all times, but the interconnectedness that is shown here just isn’t practical. There’s already so much paranoia in place in our society that the odds of anyone ever being able to pool all of this at once are nil.
Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe EAGLE EYE is prescient and ten years from now, it’ll be seen as a visionary thriller that warned us where we were going. But I’m willing to bet the opposite is true. I think eventually we’re going to see a push back in the other direction. When I read a website like BOING BOING and I see how much righteous anger is brewing out there regarding the way our rights and our privacy is being sold out every day, I think the right voices will eventually be heard, and we’re going to reclaim some of our personal space, some of our right to simply live without being under a constant microscope. If you take EAGLE EYE as a simple bit of fun, it works. The cast all gives it their best, with Billy Bob Thornton coming across the best and Rosario Dawson once again proving that she can bring even the driest material to life. LaBeouf gets a raw deal from fanboys, but he’s very good here. Playing Cary Grant’s innocent man to Caruso’s Hitchcock is not an easy gig, but Shia not only sells the confusion and horror of the situation, but also makes the eventual heroism seem like a real and viable choice. Monaghan’s got less to work with, but she sure is appealing. The screenplay credit is so twisted and knotted that it’s hard to know who to blame or credit, but that’s increasingly common on event movies like this.
One note: I had a chance to see the film at Fantastic Fest, but I opted to wait and see it in IMAX when I got back to Los Angeles instead. Glad I did. The last act of this film is fairly ludicrous in terms of staging, but the sets where the bad guy “lives” are gigantic and dazzling in terms of design. And to see them in IMAX, it’s like you’re actually in the room, surrounded by those mirrored globes. I understand there were a limited number of digital IMAX screens showing the film this week, and I plan to get a look at digital IMAX soon. I love how the name IMAX is rapidly filling a niche that used to belong to THX, a guarantee that you’re going to have a certain quality of experience each and every time. It’s not just the size... it’s the sound, and it’s the clarity, and it’s the way the seats are set up so no one’s ever in your eyeline. I just plain prefer this to any other mainstream theatrical presentation. The Alamo Drafthouse doesn’t count, since that’s a whole other type of experience. Shit, if Tim League ever got his hands on an IMAX theater, I would probably die of joy.
Overall, I doubt anyone’s going to be talking about this one a year from now, but it’s a pleasant couple of hours if you’re in the mood for a technothriller. Hopefully it does well enough that Caruso’s set loose on Y THE LAST MAN, easily the best material he’s ever been attached to as a director. That could be his defining moment as a director, and based on the way he’s grown from film to film so far, I have a feeling he’s going to finally assert the personality that’s been missing from most of his films so far.

Cary Grant seemed to rely on looks and leading man charm, whereas Jimmy Stewart was more the awkward humorous regular guy charmer, a bit more like Shia. <p>
And yeah, this movie had Spielberg written all over it, from Shia's casting to the usual theme of an omnipresent threat (i.e. giant shark, aliens, government agents who hunt aliens, dinosaurs, Nazis, etc.) and the Hitchcock references. I posted in in another thread, but did anybody see the "Man Who Knew Too Much" rip in the film, with Moynahagn's character as the Doris Day mother?

At first I thought his review was well written, and I guess it technically is, but now I see only when viewed through a personal filter which only he himself possesses. He talks about how it's a smart Michael bay film, but I can see after reading this review and many others, that that is just the mask the film is wearing and how Harry would like the film to be in a perfect world. If I was a more cynical person I would say he flat out lied. Like a podunk radio station critic exaggerating to get a quote on a script. Yes Harry forgives it, unequivocally, time in and time out. As if the want for something to be is enough to will it into being true. It's really just kind of bullshit and misleading for people who actually have to go out there and spend alot money on a product,a nd many of them don't have it. Moreover I think it damages film as an institution to be so constantly effusive in your praise. It makes sure more films like Eagle Eye get made and less films that actually ARE smart and fun. After all if you don't have to try in order to sucker the public, why bother? I wish Harry would realize that when getting overly enthusiastic, on purpose it seems, to shield himself from a bad time or whatever psychology is going on up there, about one meaningless aspect of a film or giving it the benefit of the doubt for wanting to be something it never actually earns or even tries to earn. I would really like some insight on it from someone who knows the guy. Because I think it's way beyond a "love for film." Most of us love film but at least in the most basic of senses try to have a modicum of taste.

A cringeworthy 27% fresh on RT. And most of the few positive reviews were heavily qualified reviews indicating it was nothing more than an enjoyable, if absurd, bit of fluff.<BR><BR>Glad to see you're not drinking the kool-aid that has been passed around here lately regarding this film, Moriarty.

It's as if the guy who originally pitched the story only pitched the first half of the movie and the studio said "Fuck it! I don't wanna know what happens later! I wanna experience it myself! Eagle Eye is a go. Start writing it!"
That's when the guy realized that he doesn't have any story to begin with. It's as if after creating such a promising opening, his PC hit him with a BSoD and a light struck his head: "What if the lady on the phone is a computer?! No wait... a pissed-off computer!!? YES!! The computer is pissed-off because the president didn't follow her recommendation to not attack those afghans in the beginning of the movie (that sequence btw was fucking useless)."
Slapping Steven Spielberg's name in the movie doesn't make it fan-fucking-tastic. Slapping shameless advertisement plugs doesn't fix it either.
"She is going to meet us... At the home theater section of Circuit City." *Circuit city music kicks in* "Welcome to Circuit city! We have the best products!!"
HAPPY BIRTHDAY! HERE YOU GO, ROCK BAND FROM EA GAMES!

Remeber int he 80's how he was the champion of everything that was wonder and beauty and fun? It's like he became a cynical money grubbing asshole. I mean did he develope a taste for the nose candy or something. His produced shit is literally sub Bruckheimer at this point. The Spileberg of yore would have found it disgusting to take an awesome concept like Transformers and make THAT movie out of it. Cynical, characterless, and devoid of any sense of wonder. Criminal. And we blame Bay a lot, but its really Spielbergs fault. He hired Bay and approved that HORRIBLE screenplay. And now Eagle Eye. It's really fucking sad. Especially after Indy 4 revealed the problem may have creeped over into his directing.

A truly horrible rip-off of Die Hard 4 and War Games as well as Hal from 2001: throw in some Enemy of The State, and Terminator 3, and you have this mess, Eagle Eye, truly one of the worst films I have ever seen!!! Save your money on this turkey folks!!!<BR><BR>Steven Spielberg authored this story, and the blame is all on him!!! This guy has really lost any real creative directions. It is now time for him to retire!!!

Most of the movie was bull...but it had nothing to do with the directing or the acting. It had to do with a very, very, poorly constrcuted script. See it was lazy writing on so many levels. The biggest issue is that when you put a story together you need a throughline and in Eagle Eye the obivious throughline was the race against the clock. Now, normally if you have this throughline it makes your action sequences more interesting, and it makes your character scenes more to the point and on the ball...but in Eagle Eye they used the chase aspect of the film to get away with quick, silly 'character development' which was basically alot of arguing- and they got away with it because no matter what the characters did you still wanted to see the next scene to see who was calling their cellphones. Now on top of that, they revealed the LADY HAL threat way to early in the movie. I mean in a movie where the fact that the threat is elusive is the whole point this is a terrible mistep, especially when you find out it was all fucking out of whack robot. And Michelle Monaghan...did you read this script? Did you realize your entire character was a plot device! 'We need the mom, so the kid can carry the exploding device...'...and Shia's story arc...becoming a responsible citizen...its just such an east anf bloody obvious story to tell...and the very last micro scene of the movie...the birthday party...was just the stupidest thing in the world...i didn't even feel their was enough of a connection between the twoe characters in a movie where they were always on the run, their lives at risk to warrant that 'i'm about to kiss you' look. I just hate going to a movie that is supposed to be covered with plot twists and know EXACTLY whats going to happen. There were so many good opportunities to be had here...i mean the climactic scene is a great visual, and so is the inside of he computer...and the rip from SE7EN where they're walking under the hydro wires...all good. The best ending was pretty simple to me...Shia probably should've died when he recieved the FOUR...yes FOUR gunshot wounds...

(Spoilers) Spielberg has done it his whole career, as have most of the guys from the 70's from DePalma to Scorsese. Eagle Eye was essentially a modern action thriller hybrid take on North By NorthWest and The Man Who Knew Too Much. The wrong guy being blamed for a crime and running from the authorities only to turn it around on his tormentors was a classic Hitchcock storyline, and that is essentially what Eagle Eye was. The feeling of being watched, the scene in the open field, the mac truck exploding after being struck by a plane behind our fleeing hero, the assassination plot of a dignitary on the particular note from the band, a woman seeking her lost son, political intrigue, and the man (or in Eagle Eye's case, a computer) behind the curtain pulling the strings. All classic Hitchcock.

I've been visiting AICN on a daily basis since early 1997, possibly late 96 or whenever the site first went up. The Eagle Eye reviews by Harry and Massawyrm are the last straw... I spent valuable hang-out time with my soon-to-be-married budddy seeing this piece of shit on Friday afternoon, based on the recommendations from Harry and Massawyrm. This was one of the dumbest fucking movies I've ever seen. Fuck you Harry, and all your little peons. You guys have lost touch with what's good and now you're stuck in some kind of self-referential wankfest.
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For me it's been a long disenfranchisement. I was an unabashed fanboy until your Matrix Reloaded review came out, wherein you said that it was gonna be the best movie ever because now we have "Vampires and Werewolves in the matrix", as if that was something desirable. It's one thing to like a movie despite it's flaws, it's another to espouse the dumbest aspects of something.
<p>Your writing hasn't improved in twelve years, and your taste in movies seems to have disappeared.
I'm deleting the bookmarks to your site from my various computers Harry.

I'll take Rush Hour over Taking Lives (even though that was bad in a funny way) and the terrible Rear Window remake...oh I mean new take on Rear Window...oh I mean no, it's not Rear Window, how could anyone make that inference considering it takes almost every plot point and scene from Rear Window and just changes the ages of the characters, sends it to a suburban setting, and makes the lead character someone stuck in their house because they're on house arrest instead of having a broken leg.

Database. This is a given. The damn truth in 10 years time... Anyone who wants to know what you look at online will be entitled to do so. All they will need is your name. Not even your IP address.
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There was a big discussion on this recently by a member of the FBI- It's on youtube. Look it up. Actually look up "Adam Savage Dodo Bird" and you will find it through the video's from that same event linked to it.
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I haven't seen this movie. I'm assuming a Computer is the Villain. And even if thats implied all the way through theres no way to say it wasn't started by a human executing a keystroke to target the perfect victim. Even if they never say that.
<P> Reminds me of Mori's complaint with Rob Zombies Halloween and him not understanding how Michael could know what his adult sister looked like- The retort is plainfully simple. She looks like a Myers in the face. Someone else in his family might have looked a lot like she did. And he keyed into it. Think Frank Stallone
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Today it's Intellus background checks, tomorrow it will be all of your internet travels with restrictions against viewing your online financial history, but all else will be free game to anyone who's willing to pay for it or plans to hire you and wants to know who you really are.
<P>You have been warned. Tabs are already kept on you. They just aren't shared yet, and you are a goddamn fool if you don't think that they will be.
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Think for a minute about all the shit we dug up on presidents ages after they died. Simple notes hidden from plain view. Now think about computers/servers who's only job is to collect information on the worlds travel data. FBI guys can pull up the exact number and time of any phone call youv'e made from what ever number you've owned or used since the 70's. Fuck think about the Wayback Machines ability the net offers now for older version of websites. Yeah... Everyone was stupid to think this is in our control and it's private information. We'll see.

. . . cause after the patriot act we’re not getting our rights back anytime soon. It may not be in the way Eagle Eye portrays it but in some low tech manner the majority of that shit is happening. And if anything the average citizens quite opinion is rarely heard over the gaggle of conformist idiots screaming his sides better than the other. i.e. See the last two presidential elections.
I’m not trying to start a fight or anything. It’s just my opinion. As Americans at least we have that . . . for now.

We know you downloaded a Mutt Williams wallpaper.
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We know you Google Imaged -MEGAN + FOX + OX and were disappointed by the lack of said ox.
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We know you downloaded 'pig and woman' porn.
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We know you visit "Golden Girls" chatrooms.
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We know.

Okay, not really, but while people these days totally forgot what a Nazi was and use the term for people who play by the rules ("Can you believe that the policeman gave me a ticket for driving over a red trafficlight? What a nazi!"), they label directors as hack when they don't like the movie. ("The Godfather is boring. Francis Ford Coppola is a hack!")

SPOILER!!!<p>
The crystal was supposed to explode at the sounding of the high note at the end of "The Star Spangled Banner". The only problem is that that note is played halfway through the song to the words "and the rocket's red glare". The crystal would have exploded before Shia even entered the room.<p>
End Spoiler

similarity also. The assasination attempt made via a music cue. But what a convoluted way to get there. And I disagree about Caruso's staging of the car chase. One of the worst edited car chases I've seen in a long time. William Friedkin, where are you?<p>Of course the major plot twist is hokum, and it destroys the picture on the whole. Remember when "popcorn" thrillers actually had a brain behind them, like say, WarGames?

...is that for the most part, LaBeouf and Monaghan never make a single independent or intelligent decision on their own. They're just doing what the [spoiler] computer [/spoiler] is telling them to do. And neither of them is especially smart or capable. No question about it, these are protagonists born of the Sarah Palin era, where no public figure is allowed to be smarter than the bottom third of the American populace. You know what's great about North by Northwest? Cary Grant is out of his element, but he's no idiot. He's always thinking quickly, doing his best to stay ahead of the game even with the odds completely against him. OK, it's harsh to judge a tossed-off film like Eagle Eye against arguably the best thriller in movie history, but come on -- the filmmakers should at least be SHOOTING for that level. Watching Eagle Eye, I had the sense that DJ Caruso's highest ambition was to be compared to Renny Harlin. (And he doesn't even come near him. The Long Kiss Goodnight blows this movie out of the water on every level.)

You know, so it could just drag his ass to the loading bay and maybe have another couple of goons hold his family hostage so he doesn' try anything stupid. The movie is just one big logistical nightmare.

yet another one of those too smart for it's own good movies that ends up being casually dissected by guys like us even as we watch it unfold. I guess even in something like this we look for an intellectually stimulating lark, especially given this particular film's pedigree. One of the things that was so impressive about the first Matrix was that the Wachowskis refused to dumb down the film's main plot device. Further, they kept the whole concept fairly simple, thus eliminating all the logic conflicts and plot contrivances these type of films seem to inevitably breed.
And could someone PLEASE explain to me why I automatically dismiss LeBouf's films? I keep telling myself it's wrong of me, but damn, I can't seem to help myself.

SPOILER __ Disturbia was the passable, fun watch. not this piece of crap. shia lebouf is okay as the everyfunny kid but the lines in this movie just sucked--excepting a few--and the moment i learned it was supercomputer, i was pissed and wanted to leave. iRobot was bad enough but that seems like a masterpiece now compared to eagle eye.

How so? The plot is ridiculous and very silly. And just about anything resembling a theme in this movie has been explored in far better films (some of them not even that good to begin with). The whole surveillance society theme was handled much better in Enemy of the State and I have a feeling by now much of what happened in that film is possible by now. The whole plot of this movie resembles some absurd Rube Goldberg device.

How come Secret Service Agents never seem to go for a kill shot in these situations? I would think a guy firing a gun in the air with the president there would be dead in half a second flat. He's walking around with a sling afterwards. It's a ridiculous cliche.

like bat cell phon esonar. I still hate that hollywood does this type of shit. The computers that blow up in die hard 4 the on screen computer stuff in die hard 4 the elevator override bit in die hard 4. I mean computers can do certain things. Hell the 3d all the way around in enemy of the state when big willie style bought his wifes naughty nighty. This shit is not possible. Stop doing that!!! Dont even get me started on the Denzel Washinton flic Deja-Vu!!!!

... much less IMAX. <p> This movie was the worst 'blockbuster' that I've seen in a while. I seriously can't fathom how on earth this POS is getting positive reviews on this site. It’s a thriller where the plot doesn't develop or thrill, it just happens. Not to mention the leads are about as deep as mannaquins and half as vibrant on screen. Its like they decided to take every techno thriller, decided they weren't stupid enough for today's audience, and sucked all the marrow of cohesivness or intelligence out of them before frankensteining a series of cliches together into an abortion of a film... well at least that's my opinion.

My brain hurts from suspending so much disbelief. Thankfully, my brain is shaped like a crane, so I survived. But damn, the cast is so good and the screenplay is so stupid that I have no choice but to give it a 5/10. I usually have no qualms with taking leaps in logic, but this ENTIRE film was ONE GIANT LEAP over a chasm that wasn't even worth jumping over.

Wasn't there a much simpler way to blow people up? There were at least two or three crystals in that place. More than enough to the job and wipe out half a city block in the process. Wouldn't hijacking a missile be more efficient? Or even a few of those remote controlled planes (whatever they're called)? It took just one and blew up a tunnel full of people.

"Is that really what we’ve come to? You’re either an auteur or a hack? There’s no middle ground where professional, slick directors for hire can exist?"... I was just thinking about this the other day. People tend to take professionalism for granted, no doubt because they think that screenwriting, directing, etc. are far easier tasks than they really are. But American movies are watched all over the world because even the just-OK ones reach a level of polish that regional productions have trouble matching. In a way, we're spoiled. I think there IS a place for competent professionals (Jay Roach comes to mind, and maybe Frank Tashlin from an earlier era), though there's no mystery why those guys never get the accolades of the auteur types. I'm not sure if these musings are relevant to EAGLE EYE, which I haven't yet seen and for all I know is unalloyed garbage, but I've always thought that the fanboys who keep saying things like "Give me 50 million and I can make a better movie" had better hope that their wish never comes true.

I found this one to be quite the gargantuan megaturd. Also, I really do find Shia's A-list status (relative to his acting range)less and less justifiable. But nevermind all that. Moriarty, my man, it was that,"...but Caruso has an innate sense of geography that serves him well overall..." line regarding the action filmatics that I just had to chime in on. If there was one thing that was glaringly and infuriatingly obvious about this movie's action sequences, it was the TOTAL ABSENCE of the slightest ounce of any geographic or spatial continuity whatsoever. During the car chases, it literally can't be discerned where car A is in relation to car B or even which friggin direction they're going in. It's time for all of us to
begin to recognize this spastic-cam crap as not just failure in the context of action filmatics, but filmaking overall. If this is in fact the art of VISUAL storytelling, than competent translation of movement within the frame rates as an ABC level fundamental.

First, it was all the goddamn references. I found them very very distracting. <p>
All that HAL bullshit. The soldier is even called Bowman for fuck's sake. Glowing red eye, deadpan voice (Julianne Moore?) and so on. <p>
THE MAN WHO KNEW TOO MUCH. Oh yes, I can handle a "homage" from time to time, but getting your climax completely out of another movie's climax is where I draw the line. I hated that fucking scene. Sure, it was very well staged, and all, but come one. Hitch did the exact same thing, how could you give that a pass, Moriarty? <p>
All the stupid fucking shit: Too many questions. First of all, as Mori says, the computer was pretty much fucking omnipotent. The stuff it pulls in the movie goes far beyond anything possible. So why go for the most complex and ridiculous plan to kill the president? Why not make a truck run a red light and smash him? Why not just crash Air Force One? I get we need a plot and all, but if you think a little about HAL's plan, shit... Here's another: In the end, all they do to "kill" HAL is fucking smash it with a crowbar. Really?! All they had to do was THAT?! Come on. <p>
I think you were too kind on this movie, man.